In Tim Wright, Patriots get back an intriguing pass-catching tight end

Tuesday

Aug 26, 2014 at 5:16 PM

FOXBORO — The trade of Logan Mankins justifiably sent shock waves through the Patriots locker room and New England on Tuesday afternoon. Only Tom Brady and Vince Wilfork had been with the Pats longer, and the idea of replacing Mankins on the offensiv

By Tim Britton

FOXBORO — The trade of Logan Mankins justifiably sent shock waves through the Patriots locker room and New England on Tuesday afternoon. Only Tom Brady and Vince Wilfork had been with the Pats longer, and the idea of replacing Mankins on the offensive line is a daunting one, indeed.

So what did the Patriots move Mankins for? Financial considerations clearly played a part in the move — nearly every player who spoke about Mankins on Tuesday mentioned “the business side of the game” — but New England is also receiving an intriguing piece back in tight end Tim Wright.

Wright went undrafted after a career at Rutgers as a wide receiver, but he had an uncommon rookie season for someone who slipped past all seven rounds. Converted to tight end by the Buccaneers, Wright caught 54 balls for 571 yards and five touchdowns — one of the best rookie seasons by a tight end over the last decade.

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Since 2004, only Seattle’s John Carlson in 2008 caught more passes as a rookie tight end. Only Carlson and Dallas’ Terrance Williams accumulated more yards as a rookie.

Wright becomes the fifth current Patriot who played his college ball at Rutgers, and three of them — defensive backs Logan Ryan and Duron Harmon and linebacker Steve Beauharnais — overlapped with him with the Scarlet Knights.

“He’s definitely a good player,” said Harmon, who lined up across Wright in plenty of practices in Piscataway. “It showed last year when he got a little comfortable at his position. He made some plays for Tampa Bay.”

“People saw how he improved his game and how he had probably the best year of his career in his first year in the NFL,” Ryan said. “That shows you a lot about the person. I’m excited to see him when he gets here.”

“Was I surprised he went undrafted? A little bit. Was I surprised he did well? Not really,” said Harmon. “He works for everything he has, and I know he’s going to continue to keep working.”

Cornerback Darrelle Revis knows Wright from their time together with the Bucs a season ago.

“We’re getting a solid player who can catch, who can run and can run great routes. He has a lot of speed at the tight-end position,” Revis said. “He’s a playmaker and him teaming up with our system and what we do on offense, I think he’ll fit in well.”

Having converted from wide receiver, Wright definitely offers a different look out of the tight-end spot. The initial temptation may be to view Wright as insurance for Rob Gronkowski, who has missed significant time each of the past two seasons and who has yet to suit up in the preseason. That, of course, would be rather enormous shoes to fill for a player who will have a week and a half to learn the playbook.

Further, Wright isn’t nearly the kind of interior tight end that Gronkowski is. He might end up being used more in the way Aaron Hernandez was in New England, lining up outside Gronkowski or fellow tight end Michael Hoomanawanui on the line or in the slot.

According to ProFootballFocus, Wright lined up in the slot on 62.2 percent of his snaps with the Bucs last season.

“He’s a good tight end that’s not your traditional tight end,” Harmon said. “He does good things in and out of his breaks, catches the ball well. He’s a change-up tight end who did well for himself last year.”

Wright, however, wasn’t winning many fans with his performance this preseason, with new Tampa Bay head coach Lovie Smith calling him out publicly for his poor play last week. Wright had slipped to third on the depth chart at tight end for the Buccaneers, with Smith pointing specifically to his struggles as a blocker.

He’ll need to shore up that area of his game to prevent opposing defenses from treating the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder like just another receiver, responding with sub packages when he’s in the game.

For those who know him from Rutgers, though, Wright’s most impressive skill is with scissors in his hand, and not a football.

“He’s a great barber,” Ryan said.

“He kept me fresh in college,” said Harmon. “Like two days before the game, he would cut probably half the team — coaches included. He definitely took care of us.”